Malin kundang

 In a fishing village on the coast of West Sumatra, lived Malin with his mother. They were poor and deep in debt, but what hurt Malin the most was his mother’s cold attitude who never acknowledged him as her son. “Don’t call me mother! I have no child like you!” his mother, Ibu Kundang, would say almost every day. To help pay the debt, Malin worked hard, yet his mother still didn’t appreciate him. 

 One day, a merchant ship docked at the harbor. Malin asked permission to go abroad to earn money and settle their debt, but his mother replied harshly, “Go! I don’t care. I don’t claim you as my child.” With a broken heart, Malin left. In the foreign land, he was mistreated, forced to work like a slave, and lived in suffering. Years later, he returned wearing ragged clothes and looking thin. When he arrived in the village, the residents were shocked at his condition.

 Malin immediately went to see his mother. “Mom… your child is back,” he said softly. But his mother shouted loudly, “A child? I have no beggar child like you!” Malin begged on his knees, but his mother felt ashamed. In anger, she shouted to the villagers, “I dare to swear I’ll be struck by lightning if he is my child!” Before her words faded, a lightning bolt flashed across the sky. A deafening thunder roared, and in an instant, Malin's mother fell, struck by lightning in front of the whole village. The villagers screamed in panic, while Malin fell to his knees, staring speechless.

From that day on, Malin's family tragedy became a lesson for the whole village: that neglecting one’s own flesh and blood is a sin that will not escape nature’s retribution.